Cops ask tuition centres to segregate boys, girls

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have asked private tuition centres in Srinagar to segregate classes of boys and girls, inviting accusations of moral policing.

The move is apparently aimed at protecting girls from harassment. “The administrators of tuition centres were asked to formulate a shift system (between boys and girls) with significant intervals,” Srinagar senior superintendent of police Ashiq Bukhari said on Tuesday.

The move comes a week after a woman suffered an acid attack from a stalker in Srinagar.

A teacher at a tuition centre said, “The woman attacked was not a teacher in a coaching centre nor was the accused a student. Why are we being singled out?”

The state’s director of school education, Muhammad Shafi Rather, said he was not aware of the police move. “There is no government direction for segregation of classes.”